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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082963">A winter night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinefrenzy/pseuds/afinefrenzy'>afinefrenzy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agent Carter (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:29:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,350</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082963</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinefrenzy/pseuds/afinefrenzy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been quite long since Dottie had been near the SSR building, but she remembered every little detail.<br/>Like she always did.<br/>And she remembered Peggy Carter.<br/>The only woman who had ever been a challenge to her.<br/>The only interesting thing in a world full of predictable events.</p><p> </p><p>This was going to be a One Shot, but I kinda wan‘t to make an entire Story out of it. So prepare for the next chapters.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peggy Carter/Dottie Underwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A winter night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Peggy Carter walked down the cold streets of New York. The night fell dark upon the city and the streets were almost entirely empty. She pulled up the collar of her coat to protect herself from the cold wind, as she made her way to the SSR.<br/>
It was nearly midnight, but she needed to bring a file back that she had brought home with her before anyone would have noticed it had been gone.<br/>
The men at the SSR already did not trust her. She would not provoke their hate further by giving them a reason to think she was unprofessional or even a traitor. </p><p>Under normal circumstances she would not have brought it back home, or rather to Howard Starks residence, anyway, but this case was special. It felt oddly familiar and she just had to figure out what was going on.<br/>
A part of her already knew who she needed to find.<br/>
It had known the moment Daniel Sousa had shown her the picture of the dead victims.<br/>
The way they had been killed was precise.<br/>
She only knew one woman, who was able to win a fight against two dozen of men and that woman happened to be the one who had escaped from her trunk two weeks ago.<br/>
The only evidence that had been found near the corpses was a streak of brown hair.<br/>
Peggy knew that it had been placed purposely. No one that could win this fight would be stupid enough to leave a thick streak of hair. And only a thick streak of hair. It had been placed to lead to a wrong track. To waste time.<br/>
It had not been the killer‘s hair. Peggy knew that too. She herself did use several wigs in her job and a certain woman did too. She did not know why, but something about Dottie Underwood made her feel uneasy, yet excited. </p><p>When she had helped her breaking out of prison and had asked her for help, she had not thought about the possibility that Dottie might get captured. However, as soon as she had found that little tube with Whitney Frost‘s blood in it, she had known Dottie was being in trouble.<br/>
And she just had had to help her. </p><p>Peggy would never admit that relief had washed over her when she had found Dottie and had been sure she was alright. It had been her that had brought Miss Underwood into this situation, so she just had to risk her own life to safe hers.<br/>
It had been the noble thing to do.<br/>
At least that‘s what she had told herself so many times since that day. </p><p>Snow began to fall from the night sky as she walked into the building. She quickly made her way to her desk, hoping the night shift would not see her. And they didn‘t.<br/>
Of course they didn‘t. They were busy eating sandwiches in the chief‘s office, challenging each other to take larger bites with each turn. Peggy rolled her eyes at their behavior, but was grateful for it nevertheless. Sometimes there was a voice in her head, asking wether there were literally just a handful of man that were not cliché, or if she was just sentenced to deal with the only ones that weren‘t capable of treating a woman or themselves with respect.<br/>
Of course, there was no time to think about that now. She decided it was best to leave the SSR building as quickly as she came, before they discovered her after all. </p><p>A thin layer of snow had covered the ground when she stepped outside again.<br/>
She looked down the street. There was a car standing a few meters afar.<br/>
A man stood next to it and talked to someone through an open window, but she couldn‘t hear what they were talking about.<br/>
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and pressed a wet cloth onto her face.<br/>
She hit whoever it was standing behind her right into his abdomen. He let go of her, but her head began to feel dizzy and as she spun around she could not see him anymore. Everything was blurry. Another person grabbed her. Or was it the same one? She spun around again, using her arms to push the assailant’s hands off of her.<br/>
She kicked and struck right between the attacker’s legs.<br/>
Certainly not a man.<br/>
A split second later everything was pitch black around her. </p><p>________________</p><p>Dottie Underwood had been waiting. She had been waiting for several hours.<br/>
Something in her grew more bored and tired of this incredibly dull evening with every breath she took.<br/>
She had been sent to kill some high positioned man who was a threat to her client.<br/>
However, she had forgotten the details. She knew how he looked like and that was everything she needed to know. The rest was just unnecessary information. She did not care what he had done. She did not care who he was. She did not even want to kill him. Sure, ending someone‘s life had always been exciting, but this way it was just not entertaining.<br/>
Shooting at someone from afar was lame. There was no challenge, no rush of adrenaline coming over her, no fun.<br/>
So she kept waiting like she had done for what had felt like eternity.<br/>
Her thoughts, once in a while, wondering about what was happening in the building on the other side of the street.<br/>
The SSR.<br/>
It had been quite long since she had been there, but she remembered every little detail.<br/>
Like she always did.<br/>
And she remembered Peggy Carter.<br/>
The only woman who had ever been a challenge to her.<br/>
The only interesting thing in a world full of predictable events. </p><p>When she had gotten the job she had not known that she would find herself only a few hundred feet away from the building Peggy worked in every day. Her client had told her that the target would visit an informant between seven in the evening and one o‘clock in the morning, but she only had found out the address right before she had gone there.<br/>
The fact that she was near to the people who had been searching for her since she got out of the trunk contributed at least a little bit of excitement that night. </p><p>Dottie looked through the crosshair at her weapon and searched the street for the target. What she found instead sent a wave of electricity down her spine. A smile crossed her face and her heartbeat began to quicken. Peggy Carter was walking down the street right in front of her.<br/>
And she pointed her gun at this endearing woman. She could have killed her in an instant, but she didn‘t. She just watched instead.<br/>
“What are you doing here, Peg?“, she spoke, breaking the silence in the empty room.<br/>
Everyone of her senses was completely awake now.<br/>
She watched every single step of the woman on the other side of the street. Peggy was dressed in a long dark blue coat with a matching hat. Or maybe black.<br/>
Dottie could not really tell because the night grew deeper with every blink of an eye.<br/>
What she did knew was that Peggy looked gorgeous. She always did.<br/>
Dottie appreciated every single person that could take up with her. Especially beautiful women.<br/>
But there had not been one of those before she had encountered Peggy Carter.<br/>
Ever.<br/>
That was certainly one of the reasons she was so drawn to the English woman. She just needed her attention - needed the challenge. </p><p>And the satisfaction that she was sitting in this room, watching her, and that Agent Carter had absolutely no clue about that was breathtaking.<br/>
She was one step ahead of her. Finally. </p><p>As she watched the Agent entering the building, her attention came back to her original target. Her focus was back on track, but she could not push back the growing disappointment in her entirely, which bugged her.<br/>
Dottie searched the streets again, but there was still no sign of her victim.<br/>
Had he already been there?<br/>
No.<br/>
She had been drawn to Peggy, but she still would have noticed.<br/>
She would <em>always</em> be able to fulfill her task. Even in the presence of a certain English woman. That‘s just how she had been taught to do.<br/>
There was no time for distraction. Distraction was a weakness and she had no weaknesses. Yet,  somehow Peggy did distract her. Somehow she unravelled an undiscovered side in her.<br/>
Whitney Frost had brought that out in her, too, but it had been different. Whitney had used an indescribable force that had crawled up her veins and let her feel pain she had never felt before.<br/>
That was weakness she could deal with, because every other person would have suffered thrice as much as she had.<br/>
Peggy, on the other hand, just needed to be near her. That‘s all it took to let her focus vanish.<br/>
She had tried to fight it and push down whatever it was that got under her skin, but it didn‘t work. No matter what technique she used, there was no way of escaping her pull. </p><p>Right when she wanted to lower her weapon because everything fell silent again, a car drove down the street and came to a halt in the alley next to the SSR building.<br/>
“Looks like we‘re going to have some witnesses, don‘t we?“, Dottie asked, dropping her gaze to a picture of the soon to be dead man. </p><p>A few seconds later there was another car coming from the other side, dropping off her target. Unfortunately, he remained covered by the car, so she still had to wait.<br/>
She watched as the tall man‘s shadow moved slightly on the ground.<br/>
It seemed like her victim talked to someone through the passenger side’s window.<br/>
In the corner of her eye she saw another man coming out of the alley the first car had parked in.<br/>
‘What the hell is going on?‘, Dottie thought.<br/>
The man just stood there, hidden in the dark, eyeing the door of the SSR building.<br/>
Dottie followed his gaze with her crosshair and saw Peggy coming through the door.<br/>
Her heart began racing.<br/>
She watched Peggy stepping into the dark night. Then she paused.<br/>
Dottie knew the English woman would sense danger, but she looked into the wrong direction. </p><p>“Come on, Peg. Turn around“, Dottie once again whispered into the empty apartment. Impatience grew in her. Why did Peggy not see him? She was better than that. </p><p>The Russian spy discovered another figure in the alley. A woman. What the frick did they want from her?<br/>
The car that had dropped her suspect off started its engine and as if they had planned so the whole time the man  sprung into action as soon as the car did, grabbed Peggy and pressed something onto her face. It was too dark for Dottie to see what it was, but the way Peggy stumbled as she turned to face the man, who was ducking now, indicated that it must have been some sort of toxin. Chloroform, if Dottie had to guess. </p><p>“Peg, you can do better...“, she said. Her focus was switching between the two scenes. </p><p>On the left side the car, thats engine had been turned on a few seconds earlier, was driving away, but at the same time on the right side the unknown woman grabbed Peggy.<br/>
Dottie saw that the English woman was still fighting, so she turned her crosshair on the man she had to shoot.<br/>
However, as she caught a glimpse of Peggy falling to the ground, her heart skipped a beat and she aimed straight to the woman‘s head.<br/>
“Damn it!“, she yelled, her voice having an angry twist to it.<br/>
Nobody was going to kidnap Peggy except her.<br/>
Nobody was going to kill Peggy except her.<br/>
Nobody was going to harm Peggy except her.<br/>
How did these people dare to touch her? How did they dare to steal her Peggy?<br/>
Dottie shot both of them in the head. Twice. She had to let her anger loose, after all.<br/>
Her blood was pumping in her veins. Her head was throbbing, adrenaline washing through her. She hadn‘t felt this way in such a long time. It made her feel as alive as...well...as never. She had never felt like that.<br/>
Now that the attackers were dead, she looked at Peggy. She just laid there, snow slowly covering her body.<br/>
This image awoke something in Dottie she didn‘t understand.<br/>
Was it worry? Of course it wasn‘t. She wasn‘t even capable to feel this emotion, or was she?</p><p>The car that had been parked a few meters down the road was gone by now, as well as her target. </p><p>“Fuck!“, Dottie shouted, as she slammed the gun to the window ledge.<br/>
She put her hands to her head. That did not just happen. It could not have happened. She never failed to bring an order to an end. What was wrong with her?<br/>
She gathered her supplies and left the hotel room, quickly making her way out of the building.<br/>
The air was cold and she definitely was not dressed for this weather.<br/>
Her eyes wandered through the street, looking for any sign that she wasn‘t alone.<br/>
Everything was clear. She rushed to the other side of the road and kneeled down next to Peggy,  feeling her pulse. It was slow, but steady.<br/>
The cold had gotten a hold of her in a small amount of time. </p><p>“What have you gotten yourself into?“, Dottie asked. Silence was the only answer she got.<br/>
Every inch of her screamed to just leave and try to figure out where her target went, but she couldn‘t.<br/>
Once again she found herself pulled into the magnetic field of this woman. </p><p>“Screw it...“, she whispered. Her thoughts were racing. What should she do now? She could definitely not bring an SSR Agent back to her own home, so she had to drop Peggy off at the Stark residence. She had been there before and knew how to get in. That was a good plan.<br/>
Dottie rushed up to search the dead bodies for the car keys. The blood had formed a small puddle around each ones head by now and Dottie made sure to avoid them, because she certainly did not want any bloodstains on her shoes or her clothes. Trying to get those out was just a nightmare.<br/>
She found the key and picked Peggy up to bring her to the car. Her body was cold and her eyes were shut, yet her cheeks remained red from the rough way the cloth had been pressed onto her face. She carefully placed the Agent on the backseats of the car and began to drive.<br/>
She had left the dead bodies. Someone owed her a favor and she intended to tell him he had to get rid of the corpses or she would end him. </p><p> </p><p>Dottie Underwood had planned everything. Her work was always planned. Every little detail had been calculated. At least she thought so.<br/>
What she apparently did not had planned was the possibility that Peggy could wake up before they even made it half the way to their destination.<br/>
The woman sprawled out on the backseat sighed, as she brought one hand to her head. </p><p>“Bloody hell“, she whispered, not yet realising where she was.  </p><p>“Morning, Angel.“ Dottie looked into the rearview mirror, offering Peggy an enchanting smile. There was no indication that she actually was very startled.</p><p>“Slept well, Darling?“</p><p>Panic crossed Peggy‘s face, as she realized who was talking to her and that she was not home.<br/>
She tried to sit up, but it was a useless attempt, because, as soon as she tried, she felt nauseous and fell back down. </p><p>“Don‘t rush yourself, honey. You‘re intoxicated“, Dottie offered, the sweet hint in her voice never leaving. </p><p>“What have you done to me?“, the English woman asked with a certainty to her voice, trying to hide the fact she felt terrified.<br/>
There was no use to that. Dottie knew her well enough to catch the small difference in Peggy‘s voice.<br/>
The woman in the driver‘s seat brought a hand to hear heart, faking a hurt expression. </p><p>“Peg, I‘m devastated. Do you really think so low of me? If this had been my work you wouldn‘t be awake and with no doubt already dead.“</p><p>Confusion hit Peggy. What was going on? She tried to remember what had happened.<br/>
She had gone to the SSR to drop off the folder she had brought back home.<br/>
Two Agents had been eating.<br/>
She had gone outside again.<br/>
Then it hit her. Her confused expression changed into a knowing one. </p><p>“You saved me“, she stated and, in an instant, Dottie‘s mimic became dead. She gathered herself quickly. Other people would have never noticed that she had even reacted the slightest bit to what Peggy just had said. But Peggy noticed. </p><p>“Well, well, well. Someone‘s on a high horse today.“</p><p>“Where are you taking me?“<br/>
Peggy ignored Dottie‘s comment. She did not feel like playing this game right now. </p><p>“You see....I <em>wanted</em> to drop you off at Mister Stark‘s residence, but that was before you knew I was involved. I can‘t do that anymore, can I, Peg? I can‘t risk getting caught. It‘s your own fault, hon. If you just had slept a little longer, no one would have known whether I even was still in this country. Now you know. I can‘t just ignore that. As much as I hate it - and trust me, I really do - seems like you have to come with me.“</p><p> </p><p>“So you saved me to kill me?“ Peggy sat up now.</p><p>“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it. Told you already. And despite that, you‘re less fun if you‘re dead. Who would chase after me, if not you, Darling?“</p><p>“You are as charming as usual, Dottie Underwood. I hope you are aware of the fact that people are going to miss me. They are going to notice. Just leave me. You‘re better off that way.“</p><p>“Do you hate my presence that much?“ Dottie pouted.<br/>
“It hurts that you want to leave so soon, you know that, Peg? I thought we could finally spent some time together. And don‘t even try to fight me right now. You‘re still intoxicated and would not have a chance. You‘d probably just get both of us killed in a car accident. Now relax. I‘m not going to hurt you. It‘s just a nice little trip. How exciting.“<br/>
Her enthusiasm was as fake as her accent, yet it was just as convincing. </p><p>Something about that woman just left Peggy‘s blood boiling, but she was just too exhausted to deal with it at the moment. So, she just closed her eyes and let her head fell down onto the seat, letting a quiet sigh of frustration out.</p><p>That caught Dottie‘s attention. She took another look into the rearview mirror and got a proper look at the Agent for the first time that night. Her hat had fallen down, so she kept it nestled in her lap with her hands holding onto it. She looked more pale than usual. Maybe it was the bright red lipstick that was a bit smeared at the edges. Or maybe it was the fact that her body temperature still had not recovered.<br/>
How could she still look so flawless? She had just fought against two people, fallen down onto the dirty ground and woken up from a drug induced unconscioousness, yet she looked so calm. So at ease.</p><p>“You know that you‘re going to regret this, don‘t you?“ No change of expression crossed Peggy‘s face as she talked.</p><p>The sudden break of silence let Dottie come back to reality.<br/>
There it was again.<br/>
Weakness.<br/>
Peggy made her weak again.<br/>
She was glad Peggy‘s eyes were still shut.<br/>
Otherwise she would have witnessed something Dottie barely got to do witness herself.</p><p>A genuine smile.</p>
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